HYDERABAD: A committee formed by Supreme Court-mandated commission on water supply and sanitation has submitted a set of recommendations to the judicial body, calling for ban on conversion of residential and industrial plots into commercial ones by the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) or any other department or agency without prior permission of Sindh Board of Revenue.

The commissioner-led committee recommended ban on construction of high-rise buildings in old areas of City and Latifabad talukas of Hyderabad and advised reconstitution of governing body of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA).

It held Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC), HDA, SITE and Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) responsible for “contributing aggressively to aggravating the situation” and recommended action against DG of HDA for not providing the committee record of schemes and NOCs issued by HDA and WASA.

The committee looked into unchecked commercialisation of residential plots in the district by more than one agency which allowed it “at their own sweet will without any consideration for legality and legitimacy” with the result that it had destroyed social, economic and aesthetic fabric of Hyderabad and turned it into a concrete jungle.

It said the HMC, HDA, SITE and SBCA contributed aggressively to aggravating the situation. SBCA approved building plans and issued no-objection certificates (NOCs) without caring for laws and questioning competence of the authority allowing conversion from residential to commercial. This mala fide and criminal negligence required thorough probe so that responsible officers and agencies could be brought to justice, it said.

It said the SBCA’s regional directors, HMC, HDA’s directors of planning and development control (P&DC), managing directors of WASA, HDA’s DGs and engineers and officers of SITE had been instrumental in destroying the city and violating building codes and other relevant laws.

It said that secretary of local government or officer of housing and town planning department be appointed an enquiry officer to fix responsibility on incumbents and departments for issuing NOCs.

The HDA governing body notified roads for commercialisation without consideration to concept of segregation of commercial and residential areas and major roads were commercialised where high-rise buildings, marriage halls, food centres, shopping marts etc replaced single story bungalows in residential areas, dealing a blow to infrastructure.

The committee said that HDA miserably failed in developing its own housing schemes like Gulistan-i-Sarmast housing scheme which was launched in 2009 on 2000 acres and had remained in limbo since then.

It proposed a separate probe into this scheme to fix responsibility and said HDA be directed to expedite development work and deputy commissioner of Hyderabad be asked to supervise development work and hand over possession of plots to allottees immediately.

It said that Master Plan for Hyderabad 2025 be notified and a separate department be created for the purpose in HDA which should be equipped with state-of-the-art gadgetry and qualified human resources.

The committee proposed that in order to decide the fate of a project built in violation of laws and approved by SBCA illegally or without ascertaining status of land, the commission should form a committee with a high court judge as chairman, and suggested setting up of parks and horticulture authority for Hyderabad.

It said that utility agencies should not provide services to such schemes and high-rise buildings without approval or NOC by the deputy commissioner and no allotment of plots, development, change in plan or conversion of status of land should take place in SITE areas without formation of a board led by the commissioner.

The committee proposed complete ban on high-rise buildings in old areas of City and Latifabad talukas and said the construction of high-rises and commercial plazas had put huge pressure on dilapidated road, water supply, drainage, gas, electricity infrastructure. If the trend was not checked it would cause colossal damage to the infrastructure and might result in loss of precious lives, it warned.

It said the roads notified for commercial use should be reviewed by a committee led by a high court judge and proposed ban on housing schemes till the approval of Master Plan. Only a competent authority should sign NOCs instead of incompetent officials, it said.

The committee recommended that officers of HDA, WASA, SBCA, HMC, SITE and in some cases HESCO, SEPCO and SSGC should be taken to task for willful negligence, disregard to laws, rules and government. If they got away with it their successors would be emboldened and continue to play havoc with law, people and infrastructure, it said, adding that DG of HDA must be taken to task for his failure to provide the committee record of schemes and NOCs issued by HDA and WASA.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2019